Gender Equal NZ, led by the National Council of Women, has today won a Research Association award in the Infotools Community Advancement Category for New Zealand’s first Gender Attitudes Survey, carried out with Research New Zealand.

“We carried out this survey with Research New Zealand in late 2017 to get a snapshot of where we’re at in New Zealand on gender” says National Council of Women Chief Executive and Gender Equal NZ spokesperson Gill Greer.

Since releasing the report in April 2018, the full results have been downloaded from www.genderequal.nz more than 5,500 times – showing New Zealanders are very interested in these issues.

Research New Zealand was established over 25 years ago. It is privately-owned New Zealand business, and is currently the largest and most well-established marketing and social research company in Wellington.

This is the first research of its kind in New Zealand and is critical to tackling the causes of gender inequality. “The Gender Attitudes Survey tested attitudes around gender roles – in the household, at school, at work and in the community” says Gill.

“The good news is most New Zealanders recognise gender equality is a fundamental right for all of us. But we are seeing a pocket of New Zealanders that hold old-fashioned views about gender stereotypes and roles” says Gill, “these views hold all New Zealanders back from achieving true gender equality.”

The results show there are some strong ideas about what girls and women can do and be, and even more about what boys and men “should” be like – and what makes a “real man”.

• 1 in 5 New Zealanders do not believe it’s ok for boys to play with dolls

• 31% of men think that a man who doesn’t fight back when he’s pushed around will lose respect as a man

• 19% of New Zealanders think it is more important for men to be seen in a position of power in NZ society

“We’ve created a Good Guys animated film and infographic which New Zealanders can use, and share, as a starting point to question these ideas which hurt us all” says Gill.

“These strong ideas about being a man put sexual prowess, being strong and making money above empathy, being kind and vulnerability. But these are important skills for Good Guys and people of all genders” says Gill. “These attitudes also reinforce the idea that men are superior to women, and that women are naturally passive and submissive.”

“We developed the survey by looking at other similar surveys in New Zealand and elsewhere” says Gill, “and the questions reflect areas of interest to researchers studying gender all over the world.”

The survey is nationally representative in terms of age, ethnicity, gender and region, and to ensure that the results from the survey were nationally representative, quotas were regularly checked during the course of the survey and adjustments made as necessary. By the survey closing date, a total of 1,251 valid responses were achieved, including 640 men.

The results are subject to a maximum margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percent, so this means we could be 95 percent sure of getting the same result (plus or minus 2.8 percent) had we interviewed everyone in the population.

Organisations have the unique opportunity to run the survey within their organisation, allowing them to measure their organisation’s views on gender against the rest of the country.

More information about this, the full Gender Attitudes Survey report, as well as the Good Guys animated film and infographic can be viewed at www.genderequal.nz
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